Times Beach, Missouri
| Times Beach | |
|---|---|
| Ghost town | |
 Times Beach
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| Coordinates: 38°30′31″N 90°36′09″W / 38.50861°N 90.60250°WCoordinates: 38°30′31″N 90°36′09″W / 38.50861°N 90.60250°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Missouri |
| County | St. Louis County |
Times Beach is a ghost town in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, 17 miles (27 km) southwest of St. Louis and 2 miles (3 km) east of Eureka. Once home to more than two thousand people, the town was completely evacuated early in 1983 due to a dioxin contamination that made national headlines. It was the largest civilian exposure to dioxin in the country's history.
In 1985, the State of Missouri officially disincorporated the city of Times Beach.
Times Beach was founded in 1925 on the flood plain of the Meramec River in a promotion by the now-defunct St. Louis Star-Times newspaper. A purchase of a 20 × 100 ft (6 by 30 m) lot for $67.50 included a six-month newspaper subscription.
In its early years, the town was primarily a summer resort, but the Great Depression followed by gasoline rationing during World War II combined to make summer homes impractical. The town became a community of mostly low-income housing, although a small population continued to spend their summers in Times Beach as late as 1970. In the years immediately before its evacuation, Times Beach had become a lower-middle-class town. Historically, there had always been a small grocery store and gas station on Route 66 to serve the residents.
Prone to flooding throughout its history—its first buildings were built on stilts—the town experienced a devastating flood three weeks before an announcement by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that led to the town's evacuation by 1985 and complete demolition by 1992. The town was disincorporated by executive order of Missouri governor John Ashcroft in 1985.
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Wikipedia